TCA: Heigl, Heigl, Heigl! The refrain sung to 'Grey's Anatomy's' Shonda Rhimes
Katherine Heigl, are your ears burning?
ABC's show runner panel today featured some of the most prominent producers in television: Marc Cherry of "Desperate Housewives"; Silvio Horta of "Ugly Betty"; Greg Berlanti of "Eli Stone," "Brothers & Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money"; Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse of "Lost"; and Shonda Rhimes of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice."
The idea, which has worked out well for ABC in the past, is to let TV critics spend some time with big-time producers to talk about shows and the TV industry in general.
This year, not so much. Because this year there is THE KATHERINE HEIGL CONTROVERSY THAT WILL NEVER DIE, and the press hadn't been able to get its hands on Rhimes until today.
Heigl, you'll recall, issued a statement recently saying that she withdrew herself from Emmy contention because she was not given adequate material this season. That was followed by rumors that Rhimes is going to kill off her character to get back at Heigl, who won an Emmy last year for the role.
The press tour session started with a question for Lindelof and Cuse about the castaways leaving the "Lost" island permanently. And then it was off to the Heigl races!
Q: Shonda, Steve McPherson told us yesterday that you have a great story line planned for Katherine Heigl. What do you want to tell us about the situation, what’s going on, how are things going?
Rhimes: That's such an open-ended question.
Lindelof: I didn't see this one coming.
Rhimes: It’s a really great story we’ve worked out that we’re all excited about, and things are going fine.
Q: You really like to give it up, don't you?
Horta: I would put her in a coma, big-time. (He was laughing. A little too much.)
A few questions followed about "Desperate Housewives" fast-forwarding a la "Lost," the strike, the lie that the "Lost" castaways come up with when they leave the island, and the challenges of blending comedy and drama in one series.
Then: It's HEIGL TIME again!
Q: When you first go online and see what Katherine Heigl has said, what is your first reaction? Do you go into damage-control mode?
Rhimes: I didn’t log on to a website. I didn’t see it that way. But when I was told about it, I have to say that my reaction was that I thought it was surprising. I have a really wonderful working relationship with Katherine. And I love and respect her as an actress. And everyone knows that Izzie is one of my favorite characters. So, for me, it was surprising, but Katie is an outspoken person and I think we all know that already.
An unrelated "Grey's" question followed.
Then ... Katherine and the ghosts of Wisteria Lane past:
Q: All of you are show runners dealing with lots of people and lots of egos, and you have the press watching you. When something happens that you don't have control over, how do you deal with that? What's your management style?
Cherry: I completely hide. I go, oh, for God’s sake, don’t let any of the press talk to me, because I don’t even know how I feel about this yet. And usually, the best way to deal with actors is to pretend that they’re real people and you talk to them.
And, for me, when we had that disastrous Vanity Fair photo shoot thing [involving an alleged dust-up between Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross], the thing that was just so sad was that a writer, one of you guys, saw it from one perspective and it was so much more complicated and so real and understandable. So I ultimately solved it by hugging a sobbing actress in her trailer for 30 minutes and telling her, “This too shall pass.” So that’s kind of what I do is try to figure out what happened myself and go down and give the best advice. Because it’s not real life. It’s showbiz. You try to always explain to them, that, yeah, it’s controversial now and people hate you or do whatever, but pretty soon they’re going to forget you and really attack "Lost."
Rhimes: Marc is right. In a lot of instances, the story that’s out in the press is only one side of the story. A reporter sees it from their perspective and they report what they see. And sometimes that’s not everything that’s going on and that’s not everything that’s underneath something. For me, it’s about these people are my family. I literally work with them sometimes six days a week, 16 hours a day. I know them in a way that a lot of people can’t possibly. And I’ve watched all of them from being lovely young actors to incredibly famous people, and they’re dealing with things that a lot of people can’t imagine. So, for me, it’s about seeing them as people.
Q: You said there’s one side of the story. What don’t we know about the Heigl thing?
Cherry: She was drunk.
The conversation changes for a few minutes and then, HEIGL IS BAAAACK!
Q: Shonda, with her statement, Heigl insulted the writers, essentially? How did that make you feel?
A: She insulted the writers? Did she?
Q: Yes.
A: I don’t think that’s insulting the writers per se. There’s two things: The first half of season she had a very strong story line with George that played out more comedically. The second half, Katherine asked me to write her light so that she could work on her movie.
Q: But what was your reaction?
A: I didn’t feel insulted.
--Maria Elena Fernandez
(Photo courtesy ABC)
I would make that ungrateful brat be on set EVERY day until her contract was up.
No more "writing her light" so she can go off and do films.
Nope - Heigl should be on set EVERY DAY just in case the writers come up with something for her.
Having met her in person, I can tell you she meant it.
She wants out and ABC should exercise their contractual demands and make her be around ALL the damn time.
perhaps she'll learn not to put down the vehicles that put food on her table :
bashed Knocked up
bashed 27 dresses
Bashed grey's.
What an arrogant actress.
Now that she's coming back I'm done with the show.
Posted by: dave | July 17, 2008 at 10:58 PM
before this, i liked Heigl very much, because i thought she was attractive AND intelligent, fun AND deep, and above all NOT egoistic but peoples person. it seems i've mistaken her with Izzie.. What she needs to know is that MOST people went to see her movies BECAUSE she was IZZIE, because they enjoy GREYs ANATOMY so much, and they are drown to things connected to it. NONE of my friends would see her movies if I haden't draged them. These days romantic comedies are sooo boring that people (WOMEN!) usually watch them only if their favorite actors/actresses are in.. and nobody nows her apart from GREYs fens
(tip for big MOVIE producers: women love and NEED romantic comedies, but we want to see love, passion, SEX, jealousy and humor(not parody) all 100min of it and not only on the end! and not only the idea or words of sex, but erotic (NOT porn) scenes !
Posted by: Angel | July 18, 2008 at 03:13 AM
I hope that Grey's can get back to its year 1 strength - the other characters bring so much more to the table in their depth and performance. Kathrerine's Izzie is two dimensional is so many ways...she should be there on the set in a minor role while the writers put the real stars of the show take back the prime spotlight of the show.
Posted by: Elizabeth | July 18, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Katherine Heigl is a joke. But so are all of these puffed up performers, who are as disposable as paper towels. But thats what happens when you give someone an award for playing make believe. Did they invent something? Produce a tangible good, like steel or lumber? Cure cancer or promote world peace? No, they wear pretend costumes, and pretend to cry, and now they are upset because we don't love them anymore. Get some perspective, please.
Posted by: Wilbur Varela | July 18, 2008 at 11:01 AM
It seems like people are hostile Katherine Heigl and I don't understand why. Like none of you have said anything that you regret? What the hell makes you guys so rightous? It seems like the media and the jerks making these posts are more mad at her then the writers are. What's up with that?
Posted by: William Wallace | July 18, 2008 at 01:43 PM
Responding to William: Do you have inside information that she’s sorry for what she said? Because she didn’t just blurt this out. She put it out in a PRESS STATEMENT. And it was a pretty rude thing to say about the people who wrote stuff for her that WON HER AN EMMY.
Posted by: Carla | July 18, 2008 at 02:40 PM